Tanks for storing water and other fluids are used in many agricultural, residential and industrial applications including catch basins, cisterns, storage, reservoirs, hoppers and the like. Tanks are useful in many applications for storing, and then later processing in known ways, waste water, run off or sewage from a household, business or public disposal system. In sewage applications, processing can include flushing the tank in incremental doses for particular advantages of extending the life of tank systems, reduce clogging, and improve efficiencies of the tank, disposal field, and/or other part of the system.
The primary object of flushing and or dosing devices is to purge the tank at periodical intervals, thereby carrying off suspended matter and sediment and reducing them from the tank. Flushing can be performed either manually or automatically. Manual flushing has many disadvantages including requiring a hose, access to the tank and outside water sources, labor costs from the involvement of persons, and the associated the costs of such time, labor and water.
There are various means available for pumping and or dousing non-flowing reservoirs, wells, septic tanks, cisterns and the like including subsurface pumps and/or valves which are electrically or hydraulically actuated. Fluid control systems of the electrical type to control flow to an output from and input are generally available in the form of sump pumps or pumping stages. Additionally, computer control technology can be used to sequence flow utilizing electrically energized and manipulated valves, pumps and other fluid devices have been utilized in electro-hydraulic controls that connect and disconnect in sequence surface power to a plurality of down-hole, in-well pumps. Electrically actuated sequenced systems have limitations in adverse and submerged applications such as hydroponics, septic systems and underground tanks. Furthermore, when electro-hydraulic or hydraulic control systems are used, total failure of the control system is a known problem, disadvantage, and is one of the more difficult problems to overcome as substantial damage can occur to a residence or commercial building and the remedy is a costly opening, digging up, removal, and rebuild of the system.
Automating flushing overcomes the disadvantages of doing it manually, however, known automating flushing systems have had disadvantages of increased cost and complexity without improving reliability. Moreover, many systems require creating and building additional flushing tanks and structures associated with these siphon or flush tanks. For example, a conventional Millar flushing system creates an automated flush-tank; however, it has disadvantages of an additional tank and associated structures and cannot dose multiple outlets. Similarly, a Rhoads-Millar Concord inverted siphon has disadvantages of increased cost and complexity from the multiple structures associated with its inlet and outlet structure. Additionally, a Van Vranken flush tank terminates in a well in the floor of the tank, which tends to clog over time and has disadvantages of increased cost and complexity due to the construction of additional tank and well-structure as well as the associated additional costs of maintaining it. These known systems also suffered from disadvantages associated with the efficiency and effectiveness of the siphons, flush tank structures, which limited their adoption and widespread use. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an apparatus, system and method of automated flushing that is reliable, resistant to failure and that can dose multiple outlets. In addition, there is a long-felt need for controlling the sequence of flushing of multiple outputs of a tank in an automated way.
What is desired, then, is a sequencer, system and method of sequencing fluid to a plurality of outlets with advantages of low cost, effective, efficient, durable and resilient to failure and, more particularly, to a sequencer for automatically dosing of the effluent a plurality of septic fields that has advantages of flexibility, durability and ease of serviceability.